A creation is like a river changing into different forms with the passage of seasons or branching out to its lateral tributaries to gain a new direction from time to time. Sometimes it also breaks away from its parental source or spawns an offshoot to begin afresh. Guess, rebirth is necessary for every creative journey - be it musical, cinematic, theatrical, fashionable, culinary or artistic. This allegory holds true for the formerly active Odyssey, an alternative, experimental, classic rock band, sprouting out of Surat's soil in the north-western state of Gujarat. With its original members streaming into their individual fields of interest, a new chip seems to be cut out of the old block. And joining the emergent group is a strong female voice, which also doubles up as the band's frontal face.
Already a year-old in the domain of music, this contemporary folk band with textures in world music, fusion, jazz elements and folk rock styles is itching to burst out of its embryo to hold its own over a large open stage. But traces of the past prevail in present to build up a positive future of hope and energy with sheer aplomb.
Christened The Tapi Project, the band with a novelty factor affixed to it is chiefly founded by Yogendra Saniyawala, one of the dominant pillars of Odyssey. He roped in another arm of the erstwhile outfit and convinced a rare find from a talent-hunt for showing great potential and promise to join forces. As a result, Anand J. Mani now manages the guitars, keyboards as well as backing vocals in the outfit, while Swati Minaxi is the lead vocalist on the floor. Saniyawala pitches in as the lyricist, composer and a guitar player to finally complete the trio.
Strikingly, the previous reflections only exist in person and not in terms of the innovative sounds and beats that these small-town guys are striving hard to achieve amidst an excessive commotion of Bollywood blitzkrieg. For indie music is still a challenge to live up to given the current scenario. “I was looking for an untouched horizon to tap into and explore the folksy flavours. And this smouldering fire in my belly was further fuelled by Swati’s tonal quality and her tremendous expressions,” assures a glad Saniyawala, while narrating the story behind the band’s formation.
Only a true connoisseur knows the real worth of a jewel. Quiz him how he bumped into the 28-year-old Swati and he goes onto recount: “Well, I met her at a college campus during a competition where I was a judge and she, a participant. It was NIT (Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology), Surat. And you won’t believe how instantly I was struck and bowled over by her deep voice. The rest as they say is history. In a way, that gave me a headstart and we now pledge to continue for long at the crease.”
With two singles secured in their pockets, the bandwallahs next plans to launch a full album within a month. The unit appears to borrow its name from Tapi. Does it have any association with the regional river (also spelt Tapti) “Yes, very much,” confirms Saniyawala, who’s fondly addressed as Yogi in friend-circles. “See, we have a song called Tapi which flows as a river in Surat and that’s how the band-name clicked! It’s a kind of tribute to this natural resource. In other words, Tapi is inspired from the rivers across the world and how they are either drying up due to droughts and global warming or rising in level owing to heavy monsoon showers and floods. That’s the common plight in sight all around the planet. But the river as a water-body is actually a generous giver and we humans have only taken heaps from it. I thought it’s payback time for us at the moment. And we as musicians can only offer to give something back through our idiom of music,” he further elaborates to explain in lucid detail.
Having put out singles like Paigam and Suburban Zindagi via the popular music channel MTV, social media as well as on Youtube by its digital partner, the band boasts of an impressive collection of songs in its kitty, ready to be shortly unfurled. Compositions titled Dariya, Raho Mein, Tishnagi, Aey Khuda, Gumshuda, Yuhi Kahi are all set to be incorporated in the upcoming album.
Promoting the band through extensive tours and performances in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Goa, etc., Saniyawala informs to have played a lot of gigs in the last few months at all kinds of venues like pubs, cafes and concerts. Apart from various aspects of nature, the songwriter focuses on a plethora of themes to draw inspirations from. “Lost human values in society, environment, complexities of modern human relationships” are some of the instances he cites to take recourse to while penning the wordings at his desk. By his own admission, he also dabbles “in casual songwriting practice and more jazz-oriented stuff at times”. “Often the lyrics take a surreal turn, depicting dreamy reflections and of things one sees around,” he reveals.
With the virtual world grabbing most of our mindspace all the time, it goes without saying that in today’s date, social networking sites, the internet and other digital platforms have become the ideal tools to spread the music around instead of availing formal ceremonial launches. Supporting the trend, the musician agrees to the fact that “nowadays people prefer to watch and hear everything on the go, courtesy the hassle-free cellphone technology. The reach is undoubtedly much more as the audience gets an easy feed of infotainment right on its palm and at the fingertips’ touch. However earlier, it was only movie theatres and television at homes to cater to their amusement”.
With music and culture falling under frequent attacks from subversive terrorist forces, the musician strongly feels that music still has the magical powers to heal the wounded world and change it into a better place for survival. “Music is the only artform which has an immediate pervasive impact and stays with you for long. It has mass appeal and a lasting lingering effect on the ears. Although cinema exerts similar influence but not the same kind of imagination as music does. It sort of grows on the senses over time. Thus music can be of immense help as a therapy to propagate the right kind of motives, plus messages of goodwill and peace,” he advocates. “Besides fighting an armed war, I perceive love and brotherhood as the biggest weapons against hate. It is therefore very important to retain this faith and trust in the vital human emotions as their fabric is under a big threat of instability,” he pensively espouses ahead.
Good news is that the music video of the track Suburban Zindagi has already gone viral and the credits for its editing and direction job go to Saniyawala himself. Standing out for its dark content and bizarre look, the creator merits the number’s shock value to the crazy, scary, cramped existence of a suburban life. “You see, suburbs are extensions of congested cities, their concrete structures and that claustrophobic quality in terms of space, emotion and human value. There’s hardly any sunshine and airy sites in urban places. It’s true that suburbs have more earthiness and less pollution in comparison to the cities, but remaining closely attached to their fringes as well as the ballooning city-populace, the outskirts too start getting filled in by the same mess gradually,” he elucidates his views.
Aided by a normal digital SLR camera, the frames are captured by a young learning hand of photo-videographer Jaydeep Chug (who’s also a professional architect) with skillful special effects done on the editing table.
